Top 172 Quotes & Sayings by Cesar Chavez

The fight is never about grapes or lettuce. It is always about people.

To be a man is to suffer for others. God help us to be men!

The burdens of generations of poverty and powerlessness lie heavy in the fields of America. If we fail, there are those who will see violence as the shortcut to change.

Without a union, the people are always cheated, and they are so innocent.

In some cases non-violence requires more militancy than violence.

It is my deepest belief that only by giving our lives do we find life. I am convinced that the truest act of courage, the strongest act of manliness is to sacrifice ourselves for others in a totally non-violent struggle for justice.

You are never strong enough that you don't need help.

Preservation of one's own culture does not require contempt or disrespect for other cultures.

There is no substitute for hard work, 23 or 24 hours a day. And there is no substitute for patience and acceptance.

There is no law for farm labor organizing, save the law of the jungle.

When poor people get involved in a long conflict, such as a strike or a civil rights drive, and the pressure increases each day, there is a deep need for spiritual advice. Without it, we see families crumble, leadership weaken, and hard workers grow tired.

Though many of the poor have come to see the affluent middle class as its enemy, that class actually stands between the poor and the real powers in this society - the administrative octopus with its head in Washington, the conglomerates, the military complex.

We need to help students and parents cherish and preserve the ethnic and cultural diversity that nourishes and strengthens this community - and this nation.

Since the Church is to be servant to the poor, it is our fault if that wealth is not channeled to help the poor in our world.

Our language is the reflection of ourselves. A language is an exact reflection of the character and growth of its speakers.

If you want to remember me, organize!

We learned many years ago that the rich may have money, but the poor have time.

There is no such thing as defeat in non-violence.

We draw our strength from the very despair in which we have been forced to live. We shall endure.

It is possible to become discouraged about the injustice we see everywhere. But God did not promise us that the world would be humane and just. He gives us the gift of life and allows us to choose the way we will use our limited time on earth. It is an awesome opportunity.

Students must have initiative; they should not be mere imitators. They must learn to think and act for themselves - and be free.

If you really want to make a friend, go to someone's house and eat with him... the people who give you their food give you their heart.

We cannot seek achievement for ourselves and forget about progress and prosperity for our community... Our ambitions must be broad enough to include the aspirations and needs of others, for their sakes and for our own.

There are vivid memories from my childhood - what we had to go through because of low wages and the conditions, basically because there was no union. I suppose, if I wanted to be fair, I could say that I'm trying to settle a personal score. I could dramatize it by saying that I want to bring social justice to farm workers.

The end of all knowledge should be service to others.

We farm workers are closest to food production. We were the first to recognize the serious health hazards of agriculture pesticides to both consumers and ourselves.

As long as we have a poor country bordering California, it's going to be very difficult to win strikes.

Real education should consist of drawing the goodness and the best out of our own students. What better books can there be than the book of humanity?

From the depth of need and despair, people can work together, can organize themselves to solve their own problems and fill their own needs with dignity and strength.

Who gets the risks? The risks are given to the consumer, the unsuspecting consumer and the poor work force. And who gets the benefits? The benefits are only for the corporations, for the money makers.

When we are really honest with ourselves we must admit our lives are all that really belong to us. So it is how we use our lives that determines the kind of men we are.

What we do know absolutely is that human lives are worth more than grapes and that innocent-looking grapes on the table may disguise poisonous residues hidden deep inside where washing cannot reach.

Farm workers are society's canaries. Farm workers - and their children - demonstrate the effects of pesticide poisoning before anyone else.

The basis for peace is respecting all creatures.

What I do shows people what kind of person I am.

The love for justice that is in us is not only the best part of our being but it is also the most true to our nature.

True wealth is not measured in money or status or power. It is measured in the legacy we leave behind for those we love and those we inspire.

Our struggle is not easy. Those who oppose our cause are rich and powerful and they have many allies in high places. We are poor. Our allies are few. But we have something the rich do not own. We have our bodies and spirits and the justice of our cause as our weapons.

Non-violence is not inaction. It is not discussion. It is not for the timid or weak... Non-violence is hard work.

Non-violence is a very powerful weapon. Most people don't understand the power of non-violence and tend to be amazed by the whole idea. Those who have been involved in bringing about change and see the difference between violence and non-violence are firmly committed to a lifetime of non-violence, not because it is easy or because it is cowardly, but because it is an effective and very powerful way.

When the man who feeds the world by toiling in the fields is himself deprived of the basic rights of feeding, sheltering, and caring for his own family, the whole community of man is sick.

We have suffered unnumbered ills and crimes in the name of the Law of the Land. Our men, women, and children have suffered not only the basic brutality of stoop labor, and the most obvious injustices of the system; they have also suffered the desperation of knowing that the system caters to the greed of callous men and not to our needs. Now we will suffer for the purpose of ending the poverty, the misery, and the injustice, with the hope that our children will not be exploited as we have been. They have imposed hungers on us, and now we hunger for justice.

History will judge societies and governments - and their institutions - not by how big they are or how well they serve the rich and the powerful, but by how effectively they respond to the needs of the poor and the helpless.

Together, all things are possible

Once social change begins, it cannot be reversed. You cannot un-educate the person who has learned to read. You cannot humiliate the person who feels pride. You cannot oppress the people who are not afraid anymore. Cesar Chavez Address to the Commonwealth Club in San Francisco, Nov. 9, 1984

Those who are willing to sacrifice and be of service have very little difficulty with people. They know what they are all about. People can't help but want to be near them. They help them; they work with them. That's what love is all about. It starts with your heart and radiates out.

You cannot oppress the people who are not afraid anymore.

The people who give you their food give you their heart.

In 1968, I became a vegetarian after realizing that animals feel afraid, cold, hungry, and unhappy like we do.

(Farm workers) are involved in the planting and the cultivation and the harvesting of the greatest abundance of food known in this society. They bring in so much food to feed you and me and the whole country and enough food to export to other places. The ironic thing and the tragic thing is that after they make this tremendous contribution, they don't have any money or any food left for themselves.

I became a vegetarian after realizing that animals feel afraid, cold, hungry and unhappy like we do. I feel very deeply about vegetarianism and the animal kingdom. It was my dog Boycott who led me to question the right of humans to eat other sentient beings.

The people united will never be defeated.

Grant me courage to serve others; For in service there is true life.

In giving of yourself, you will discover a whole new life full of meaning and love.

When any person suffers for someone in greater need, that person is a human.

We must understand that the highest form of freedom carries with it the greatest measure of discipline.

It's ironic that those who till the soil, cultivate and harvest the fruits, vegetables, and other foods that fill your tables with abundance have nothing left for themselves.

To make a great dream come true, the first requirement is a great capacity to dream; the second is persistence.

You cannot uneducate the person who has learned to read.

It is my deepest belief that only by giving our lives do we find life.